Almost got rear ended again tonight. I think it's crazy that the brake lights don't come on any time your foot is completely off the accelerator when in B mode. After all people gently tap their brakes all the time with less deceleration and yet the lights come on.

If you truly believe this is a safety issue, you should file a formal complaint w/Nissan and NHTSA: http://www.safercar.gov/.

From page 9-15 of the '15 Leaf manual:

REPORTING SAFETY DEFECTSFor USA

If you believe that your vehicle has a defectwhich could cause a crash or couldcause injury or death, you should immediatelyinform the National Highway TrafficSafety Administration (NHTSA) in additionto notifying NISSAN...

LeftieBiker wrote:How is it different from driving a standard shift car in one of the low gears, and taking your foot off the gas...?

Yeah, LEAF regen isn't any stronger than 3rd-gear engine braking on most of the manual-transmission cars I've had, even though most of them had engines of less than 2 Liter displacement.

That said, motorists seem to have become increasingly impatient over the last decade or so. Perhaps it's just the ubiquity of antilock brakes and directional stability systems that allows them to feel safe while cutting things closer. In any case as EVs become more mainstream it's probably a good idea for the DOT to come up with some rate of regen-induced deceleration past which a brake light must be activated. The EV knows speed and regen intensity and can easily calculate deceleration rate. A standard for brake-light activation would be a good thing.

Nfuzzy wrote:Almost got rear ended again tonight. I think it's crazy that the brake lights don't come on any time your foot is completely off the accelerator when in B mode. After all people gently tap their brakes all the time with less deceleration and yet the lights come on.

If this happens at night, your tail lights are already on. You increase car distance at night for that exact reason, so I agree with the others here, you just had the bad luck of having drivers behind you that don't know how to drive.

I think this would be a great idea. The B mode is plenty powerful to warrant brake lights. The argument that people should be paying attention is lame. People DON'T pay attention (I also cycle commute) and in the dark it is hard to judge speed differences. I've driven mostly manual trans cars before this and would never use the engine braking as often as with the Leaf. I would coast down hills and to stop signs to increase fuel savings, there was little to benefit from engine braking for normal driving.